GMS live tele-blogs the Glastonbury Festival

Electric Six, a Welsh flag and the phrase "Ba Ya". The spirit of Avalon awakens.

in the wake of all this bonnaroo-related excitement across the pond, GMS has decided to get involved with the live-blogging revolution. we'll be providing in-depth, all-access gossip and coverage of the glastonbury festival. live and direct from the HQ here in oxford.

1.45 some nice lunch. a french cheese called chaumes. pleasantly nutty yet smooth.

2.00 WEATHERFLASH it's a bit showery, in intervals. the bbc has a nice visual aid: a muddy leg. so, like, students can understand the weather too.

2.10 completely incredible news, pop pickers! from nme.com:

The View's frontman Kyle Falconer told NME.COM that the band's Glastonbury debut was "really good", adding: Falconer and Reilly then went off to watch The Cribs on the Other Stage.

a man of few words.

2.15 we follow falconer and reilly over to underwhelming pavement-punk journeymen the cribs, where something even more incredible takes place. NME.COM again:

The Cribs spoke out against indie during their performance at Glastonbury 2007 festival. Before closer 'The Wrong Way To Be' Gary Jarman said sarcastically : "They want us to speak out about global warming but the biggest problem is the attitude of some indie bands. Isn't that a bigger problem?" He also screamed the words: "Fashionistas we don't need you!" during the end of 'Wrong Way To Be'. With the crowd chanting "The Cribs are on fire!", their frantic set ended with Gary Jarman jumping into the audience and losing his shirt.

time for a cup of tea.

2.35 NME mention "a month's rainfall in an hour". this scores heavily on the glasto drinking game, just behind 'rumours of a libs reunion' and 'keith allen arrested'.

2.40 the earlies are due on the pyramid stage, which makes one more decent band on that stage than glasto managed in 2005. GMS caught them at the New Bands tent two years ago. Very nice, in a Doves-go-americana spirit.
16.00 lay-z writes a good verse, on a new t.i. track (unclear whether t.i. or t.i.p. is responsible). not glasto, but news: get it at nahright.

16.10 steve lamacq on bbc radio 6, holding down the mid-paced indie rock steez like it was '97. dunno who he's playing, but it sounds like a worse version of number one cup.

16.15 the cribs are on the air! "yeah it were good." moaning about the rain. doesn't look nearly as bad as 2005, 1998, 1997....
16.20 the cribs reckon modest mouse were alright. in all likelihood, modest mouse were alright.

16.25 more goodness from nahright - new song from little brother, about mooching about in nice clobber. not bad, a little smug.

16.30 first live music from glasto comes from ... the automatic. incomprehensible. not even the monster song.

16.35 the automatic covered 'gold digger' with a guest flautist. somebody call status ain't hood.
top five worst covers of pop and rap songs by dreary indie bands:

1. the vines - 'ms. jackson'
2. electric soft parade - 'can't get you out of my head'
3. travis - 'baby one more time'
4. the automatic - 'gold digger'
5. ben folds five - 'bitches ain't shit' (quite like that one, though)

16.40 literal theme music alert - garbage - 'only happy when it rains'. shucks.
five better rain songs:

1. johnny ray - just walkin' in the rain'
2. mark lanegan - 'kingdoms of rain'
3. fairport convention - 'down in the flood'
4. johnny cash - '5ft high and rising'
5. bonnie 'prince' billy - 'raining in darling'

17.00 BBC news refers to Amy Winehouse's set as "rather subdued". Excellent. Is this a 21st-century version of 'tired and emotional' for blog-friendly hipster-pop alcoholic wrecks?

17.05 Steve Lamacq spins 'Made of Stone' by the Stone Roses. Drink one shot.

17.10 Good Shoes played a set. Last year at Truck, GMS saw two of:

Good Shoes
The Shoes
Good Books
The Books

Neither of them were much good. NME's review doesn't make it at all clear which bands I might have seen.

17.15 arctic monkeys surpass the cribs in articulacy. they saw amy winehouse. "she were good".

17.40 TBC, or possibly not...

Yelping indie round-up: Modest Mouse, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

It’s ironic – not to say somewhat confusing and dispiriting – that two bands so beloved of the comment-friendly blog culture have produced highly-anticipated albums that are so resistant to the formation of strong opinions. For all their qualities – and failings – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s second album, ‘Some Loud Thunder’, and Modest Mouse’s new, Johnny Marr-assisted effort, ‘We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank’ (que?) are united in their failure, or refusal, to produce a strong reaction, in this reviewer at least.

Heightened expectations seem to have hung over both bands, and to have contributed to the impenetrable character of their albums. But they’ve responded to those expectations in opposite ways. CYHSY have turned inwards, and ‘Some Loud Thunder’ concentrates on refining and developing the band’s own sound. There aren’t any obvious singles or dancefloor fillers, but then that’s the point: remember ‘You Could Have It So Much Better’? Instead, this a practice-room album, the doors shut to the outside world, the groove allowed to lead proceedings. The result is often frustrating – long periods with little to show for the noodling – but when it works, as on standout tracks such as ‘Love Song no.7’, it’s all the more rewarding. Less tuneful and less polished than their debut, ‘Some Loud Thunder’ is a grower, suggesting at least that CYHSY is a band in a process of evolution, and one that is likely to continue producing interesting and vital music. (B)

Modest Mouse have taken the road more travelled, and seem to think they’ve raised their game to meet the public’s expectations. U2, the Smiths, Snow Patrol: all are within Isaac Brock’s sights. But here’s the problem: before this, and even on ‘Good News…’, Modest Mouse were impossible to pin down: an O.C. anthem here, a Tom Waits rhumba there. In ironing out their kinks, honing their sound, and consolidating the sound of ‘The Moon and Antarctica’ and ‘Good News’ into an unchallenging mid-paced set, Modest Mouse are aiming for a constituency that only exists in the ‘crossover indie’ aggregates suggested by annual round-ups and last.fm recommendations. Does this sort of thing really connect with anyone? Is there any content, lyrical or musical, to connect with? Of these two underwhelming albums, Modest Mouse’s seems the more focused and ambitious, but the smart money is on Clap Your Hands. (C)

More fun:

Stream most of ‘We Were Dead’ at the hype machine

And likewise for ‘Some Loud Thunder’

which is IN STORES NOW

Buy Modest Mouse at Amazon